Ask the Coaches: Aging/Performance

Monday, January 1, 2001, 12:00 am

Q: Coaches,

Recently I heard about an article that discussed the aging process and our running performances as we age. At what age do we normally start to slow taking into account we are experienced runners, what percentages do we slow per year, and what are the best types of workouts to delay this process? So for example, two runners being equal, a runner of 35 and 50 toed the line, how far behind would the 50 year old runner be even before the race began? --Rob N.

A: I think that it generally accepted that we fall apart after our peak years at the rate of about 1% per year.

For runners, it seems to me that our peak years are determined more on the age of our legs. For example, a 50 year old who has never run can probably be still setting PR's 4 or 5 or even 6 years later. On the other hand, another 50 year old who has been running already for 20 years may have been seeing the decline in performance for 15 years.

In short, I can't answer that part of your question very well.

However, to delay the drop in performance, you can train smarter by training less. You could either decrease your weekly volume or cut back on the frequency of your hard workouts. But, above all, retain your high intensity speed workouts. You certainly can't continue to run fast without those quality sessions. If you can't finish your usual number of repeats without drastically slowing down, then shorten the workouts while keeping the fast pace.